<p>Hiyas,</p>
<p>I'm taking only 2 years of foreign language. Is there any requirement for minimum years of foreign language for any college?</p>
<p>By the way, I'm majoring in something science so it's not directly related to my major.</p>
<p>yes, of course there is. check the website for the colleges of you choice for their requirements. some require 2 years, some 3, some even require 4 years of the same language.</p>
<p>Even at selective colleges and universities that state two years as a minimum requirement, having only met, rather than surpassed, that requirement may put you at a disadvantage compared to other applicants.</p>
<p>I see, thanks.</p>
<p>Is it the ‘credit’ or the actual course load/grade they require?</p>
<p>Usually, it is level completed that matters (the grade you got matters, of course).</p>
<p>So taking Spanish 1 and French 1 would only count as level 1, but taking Spanish 2 and 3 in high school (because you previously took middle school Spanish) would count as level 3.</p>
<p>If the science you are interested in is math, and you want to continue to the PhD level, note that an ability to read math papers in French, German, and/or Russian is desirable.</p>
<p>One additional reason, depending on where you end up enrolling, may be to avoid having to take a foreign language in college. At some U’s if you’ve taken enough years of a language in HS you are exempted from having to take any more in college. At some others if you take enough in HS to pass the AP exam you are exempt.</p>
<p>More years in high school may also allow you to place higher in the college’s foreign language placement tests, so that you may need fewer college foreign language courses to complete its foreign language requirement.</p>
<p>Note, however, that college foreign language courses are faster paced. Three years of high school foreign language might only be equivalent to one or two semesters of college foreign language, though it depends on the high school and college.</p>
<p>We live in a global world and even in the U.S. increasingly large parts of our population speak english as a second language. My alma mater requires foreign language proficiency to graduate but did not do so when I was an undergraduate. It is reasonable to deduce that at least this one selective school would take note in an unfavorable way of someone who took only two years of H.S. foreign language without fluency in that or another foreign language. I would strongly encourage applicants to selective schools to take four years of foreign language.</p>